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Hi there, nice to have you visiting! I'm Heidi and this is the blog for Heidi Bears. Here is where I post all the happenings in my work and daily life. Here and there you'll find info on things that have caught my attention as well as the odd tutorial. I hope you enjoy your visits. I love to have feedback, so leave me a comment!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Sock Toe...a journey begins!

Hi everyone! Finally...the journey begins...today I am doing a tutorial on how to knit the toe part of your basic sock... you have worked out your sock pattern , based on the measurements you took of your foot earlier this week. Just to re-iterate, it is essential that you know how to do Judy's Magic cast on, as well as Magic Loop knitting...

I am starting the series of tutorials with how to knit one sock on a Magic Loop, ie ONE circular needle. If you have never knitted a sock before, it would be a good idea to cope with one sock initially, until you have the technique down pat, then progress to two socks on one needle.

Be sure that you have a circular needle that is at least 32 inches long (if possible a 40 inch length is even better), or you may struggle with keeping your " loop" between the sides of your knitting.

Ok, start by casting on the required number of stitches onto your circular needle. Remember, that your number of stitches may be different to mine...don't fret...just keep the principles in mind... I needed 14 stitches , which are divided over the two needles as seen above (7 stitches on each needle). Ideally, I would want to start with an even number of stitches on each needle, so could have upped the number to 8 (ie a total of 16 stitches), but I wanted to show you that one stitch is not a crisis...we'll increase to an even number when we increase for the toe.

So...you will start to do the increases for the toe immediately, straight onto the cast on stitches. This is a little different from how some people teach this, but I prefer to do it this way, as I find it makes a nice even slope to the toe edge, and doesn't make a funny little bump at the toe tip edge.

The increase will take the form of a " kfb" . If you are relatively new to knitting, you may not have come across this term. It stands for " knit front and back ", and is a very easy way to make an increase in your knitting. By knitting into the front and into the back of a stitch, you are making ONE extra stitch, so if you have 10 stitches on your needle, and you do one kfb, you will have 11 stitches in total, after you finished the kfb.Let's walk through it...

In the pic above, you have the "knit" side facing you, and you have inserted the right hand needle into the first stitch.

Yarn around the tip of the right hand needle (just as you would do for a regular knit stitch). Pull through...BUT DON'T drop the loop off of the left hand needle.

Insert the right hand needle into the back of the loop that is still left on the left hand needle. In the pic above , you can see the turquoise arrow indicating the direction of your right hand needle's path, into the back of the red stitch (red arrow).

Above, you can see the right hand needle is now placed through the back of the red loop...now you loop your yarn around it in exactly the way you would for a regular knit stitch. (see below)

Pull the yarn through, and now you can drop the red loop on the left hand needle ( just as for a regular knit stitch). You created a new stitch !

Kfb is completed.

Continue to knit across until you have one stitch left on your left hand needle. You will repeat the kfb as before, increasing into the last stitch on this side of your work.

Ok, so in total you now have 9 stitches on your needle, because you have done two kfb's. Turn your work around and repeat the procedure above on the second side of your knitting. When you have completed round 1 , you have a total of 4 stitches extra.

Continue in this way, increasing into the first and last stitch of each side of your knitting, until you have the total required number of stitches for your sock.

Remember that I had an odd number of stitches to start with , on each needle when I did my cast on...so at the point above (where I have 27 stitches on each needle), if I do an increase into the first and last stitch of each side , I am going to end up with two stitches more in total, than I actually need. If you started with an odd number of cast on stitches, keep increasing until you are just two stitches short of your required total. Then ONLY increase into the first and last stitch OF THE ROUND. I have indicated these stitches in the pic above, by red arrows. Remember that a ROUND of magic loop knitting includes knitting BOTH sides of your work, so the first and last stitches of a round are on different needles.

This added increase will not affect your toe fit at all, and you will have the proper amount of stitches for your sock.

If you look closely at the pic above, you will see that each time I did a kfb, a little "purl-like" bump was made at the base of the increase. This is a nice way to tell where the increase is. Other methods of increasing can look different, so it is quite easy to spot a kfb increase.

Now that you have the total required number of stitches on your needles (half on one needle, half on the other), you will continue to knit in the round...on and on...until the length of your sock is about 2 inches shorter than to the back of your heel. Measure the sock on your foot as you go along. Just be careful that you don't " undo" your magic loop, by pulling the cable all the way through :)

I have so enjoyed posting these tutorials and knitting with this yarn...can't wait to show you how to turn a heel.... :D

Let me know if there any questions...email me at the following address:heidibearscreativeblog@gmail.com

That's all for today!Have a great movie night! (wonder what's showing tonight at 8pm?...will run off to look ;) )Lots of LoveHeidi :)

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Hi, I'm Heidi, the creative mind behind Heidi Bears, the blog! I am a happily married mom of two beautiful daughters, and live in an old house with wooden floors, which needs more attention than a newborn...but we love her anyway!
I love creative activities and have probably tried every kind of craft at one time or another :) I feel blessed and thankful for the diversity in my life...